[Tango-L] Gender Imbalance/Advertising for men

[Carol Shepherd]

Another reluctant jumper-in, but I have practical experience as a 
volunteer promoter that I think might be helpful.

We have the same problem locally with other dance styles and attracting 
men -- perceived impression that dancers are all slick 'Dancing with the 
Stars' material.  To combat this, we have flyers of people dancing that 
feature photographs of real people and not professionals, teachers or 
actors.  The emphasis is on a mix of ages and races and to show people 
wearing casual clothes and enjoying the dance.  (We had a specific 
mandate to show middle aged people dancing swing, because there is a 
perception that it is a dance for 20-somethings.)  I can easily envision 
doing the same approach with Argentine tango.  The message is "normal 
people like you enjoy doing this and you can too."  (sorry to all the 
elitists out there)

If you want to see examples of how we did this here are some URLs to my 
flyers:

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n308/shetangoshelindy/2upaasda_022.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n308/shetangoshelindy/2upaasda_014.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n308/shetangoshelindy/2upaasda_003.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n308/shetangoshelindy/2upaasda_027.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n308/shetangoshelindy/2upaasda_021.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n308/shetangoshelindy/2upaasda_020.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n308/shetangoshelindy/2upaasda_012copy.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n308/shetangoshelindy/2upnew_no1.jpg

These photos were selected from photos from local events and from photos 
I found on the web where I contacted the photographer for permission. 
In all cases, permission was received by contacting the photographer 
(for non-profit use).


Tango For Her wrote:
> 'Mash wrote:
> 
> I think people don't want to dance tango as they have
> no idea what tango is. Everyone STILL thinks it is the
> dance with a rose between your teeth!
> 
> 
> Exactly!
> 
> Most people associate tango with ballroom.  If they
> haven't looked into tango by now, then, it's probably
> still in that same category, to them, even after you
> meantion it to them and go on about how it is
> different.
> 
> I remember that I definitely thought it was "that
> dance with the rose between your teeth".  The only
> reason I showed up was because it was the only dance
> class that was starting that week.  I was recently
> seperated and neeeeded to get out there and I found
> that dance classes were great because you changed
> partners and met women.  I saw tango in the newspaper,
> said, "Yuk!" to myself and went anyway out of
> desperation!
> 
> Here's an idea:  
> 
> Make business cards that have:
> 
> On one side:  URLs of the local sites with the most
> info.
> 
> On the other side:  URLS to sites that have videos
> that show easier tango.  
> 
> It is my opinion that showing Show Tango isn't going
> to attract them ... but, that's just my opinion.  I
> like the idea of putting links to videos where the man
> and woman are close, the dance is SIMPLE and the woman
> looks like she is in love.  Then, again, that's just
> the romantic in me.  I don't know what would attract
> other guys.
> 
> Anyway, maybe, one of the tango societies in a given
> city that actually has a healthy enough budget could
> spearhead that kind of effort.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Carol Ruth Shepherd
Arborlaw PLC
Ann Arbor MI USA
734 668 4646 v  734 786 1241 f
http://arborlaw.com

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